Real offers source code to build free media player

RealNetworks Inc. Tuesday will release the underlying software code for its open source media player, a move that should allow developers to create free versions of the player to run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.

The release of the code marks the first in a series of open source products that the company plans to offer under its initiative known as Helix. Within the next year it is expected to release an open source media server as well as freely available technology to encode audio and video files.

The Helix DNA Client, which will be available on the Web Tuesday, is an open-source version of the engine that powers the company's commercial RealOne Player. It can be built into devices as diverse as mobile phones, set-top boxes, home audio receiver and PCs so that users can stream and play back digital media on those devices.

Initially, the company will ship the code required to build players that can be compiled to run on desktop operating systems from Microsoft Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and the Linux community. With some tuning the code can be modified for other operating systems such as those from Symbian Ltd., PalmSource Inc. and Wind River Systems Inc.

"We actually are going to allow people to build essentially their own version of the RealOne Player," said Dan Sheeran, vice president of media systems at RealNetworks. "You can grab this code and port it to your platform as quickly as you want," he said.

The Seattle, Washington, company is betting on the open-source development model to establish its media formats and related technology as a de facto standard for streaming and playing back media on PCs and other devices. RealNetworks competes against Microsoft and Apple, who also make media players and server technology based on their respective file formats.

Along with the release of the Helix DNA Client source code, RealNetworks disclosed that it will give developers free access to its prized compression and decompression technology, or codec, so that open source players built with the Helix code will be able to play back RealAudio and RealVideo files.

The company won't distribute the source code for its codecs. Rather, it will distribute compiled versions of the software for each operating system supported, Sheeran said.

"We were unclear before as to whether we were going to allow (free) use of the format," Sheeran said. "People will be pleasantly surprised at how liberal we're being," he said.

Some open source developers initially criticized the company for not offering free access to its codecs as part of the open source initiative, which was first announced in July. Without such access, developers would have been able to build a free media player but would have had to pay royalties in order to allow the playback of Real media files on their players.

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